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Close Encounter of the Terra Kind
Close Encounter of the Terra Kind is a quest in Final Fantasy XV that is a collaboration event with Hironobu Sakaguchi's Terra Wars mobile game from his company, Mistwalker. Active in-game after patch 1.26 is installed, it appears on the quest log in Chapter 5. This quest remains available/open for the rest of the game, and can be repeated. The quest is entered from a "warp pad" in the Maidenwater area. The quest is self-contained and no items or equipment carry over from the main game. The reward for completing the quest, Sarah's Shortsword, is added to all save files and will be available in new games as well. After being whisked away to a strange new planet, Noctis teams up with Sarah from Terra Battle 2 in saving the Hiso Aliens from a menace they call the Eroder. The quest takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. The event reuses most assets from the main game. Story Noctis is whisked away to the mysterious world of Hiso Aliens where he meets Sarah. She is hurt and Noctis heals her with a potion. She is thankful, but Noctis remains distrustful. Sarah asks for him to partner up with her to solve the mystery, and though Noctis is reluctant, the two explore the mystical forest ruins and discover the area is sealed off by magical barriers. They meet a small white alien who explains the situation to the pair, although only Sarah can understand its language. Sarah and Noctis have been summoned to the forest by the Great Tree at the behest of the Hiso Aliens' elder who wants two saviors from other worlds to save them from a monster known as the Eroder who has been eroding their world. Sarah and Noctis follow the alien and find statues coming alive to attack them. The two combine their skills to fight them off and learn to fight well together. They follow the alien to its village where a group of alien children steals Noctis's smartphone, impressed they have met a real prince. Sarah rushes after the kids and gets the phone back, but when she helps an alien child hanging precariously over a waterfall, the tree they were on snaps. Noctis catches them midair and warps them to safety. He scolds Sarah for being so reckless, and she thanks him for his help. On their way to meet the Elder, a tree comes alive and starts to attack, but Sarah saves Noctis from it and he again heals her with a potion. He is relieved and thankful. The Elder asks them to save the alien society from the Eroder, and the two agree to it, as if the Eroder is left to run amok, it would only be the matter of time until it could appear in their worlds as well. The aliens remove the magic barriers for Sarah and Noctis to proceed to the coliseum, where the Eroder abandons its Hiso Alien form to copy Sarah's powers. Basking in its newfound powers the Eroder attacks and Sarah and Noctis fight it off together. After defeating the Eroder, it fades away, as do Sarah and Noctis now that their task is complete. Noctis is sad they must part ways and Sarah tells him to be more honest with his feelings toward his friends before it will be too late. Noctis says he will keep that in mind. Gameplay The quest is self-contained and nothing is brought over from the main game, including Ascension progress. The menu is unavailable and thus the player can't change gear or observe the party's stats apart from HP and MP. The player can't save during the quest. Noctis wears Prince's Fatigues and has the following weapons: Mythril Knives, Rune Saber and Rapier Lance. The Blade of the Mystic can be unlocked for the final weapon slot before fighting the boss. The player can't use magic. Noctis has 3786 HP and 165 MP, and Sarah has 3412 HP and 100 MP . Battles don't yield EXP and the player can't level up. Noctis can't use Armiger or summon. After arriving in the otherworld and meeting Sarah, the player must follow her to inspect the magic barrier. There is a Hi-Potion on the steps and another among the ruins near a bridge. There is a Potion under a tree root. Sarah determines they can't get past the barrier and the player must follow her until the two meet a Hiso Alien who explains the situation, and wants Noctis and Sarah to follow it to its village. There is an Elixir along the way near some mushrooms and another Potion under the bridge. The alien removes a barrier so the party can continue and Noctis must break through a wall to create a path to a warp pad that ends up being broken. The statues here come alive and Noctis and Sarah fight them off, but their synergy is poor. The player can still "link" with Sarah, but the link-strike will fail. Sarah can rescue Noctis from Danger by leap-frogging over him, which makes Noctis topple over. The enemies are a Lv.32 shieldshears and a Lv.28 stoneshears. After the Hiso Alien children steal Noctis's phone, the player can momentarily control Sarah to catch the kids. The player must get near them and hold the confirm button. After catching the children and saving the one hanging over the waterfall, Noctis returns as the controllable character. The player can find two Ethers, Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs from the village as well as an Elixir. Talking to the alien near a barrier lets the pair continue to where the Elder is. The player must break through some walls and a wall begins to enclose on them, the player needing to save a collapsed Sarah from it. The party meets the Hiso Elder and the following battles establish Noctis and Sarah's synergy. Sarah's Technique is Salvation, a thrusting sword skill that can have a follow-up attack from Noctis. It costs one Tech bar to use and is the only Technique in the episode. It is unlocked after the second battle, after which Noctis and Sarah can also use link-strikes together. Sarah's rescue animation is also now different: she rescues Noctis by simply touching him with her hand, like the party does in the main game. The enemies here include a Lv.29 mushussu and a Lv.34 Leukorn. Returning to the village has Noctis play an item delivery game until the last alien yields the Blade of the Mystic. The player can deliver the items again to procure Mega Phoenixes at the end of the chain. The chain is Verve WX → Super Restorative → Hi-Elixir → Mega-Potion → Megalixir → Mega Phoenix → Blade of the Mystic. Going up the stairs leads to the coliseum where the player can fight the boss, the Eroder. Defeating the boss completes the quest and returns the player to the title screen after the credits. Completing the quest earns Sarah's Shortsword as a weapon for Noctis in the main game. Creation and development The collaboration was announced during the Twitch livestream event for Final Fantasy XV during Tokyo Game Show in September 2018, a few days before the event was released. The collaboration seems to have originally been made for Terra Battle 2, the game where Sarah actually appears, and the main Final Fantasy XV party were previously featured within the now-defunct title. It seems the event was rebranded to be a Terra Wars collaboration, a game that wasn't out yet, though the in-game files are listed as "TB2", implying that the former game is likely to have been the actual impetus for this collaboration. Gallery Warp pad to Close Encounter of the Terra Kind from FFXV.png Close Encounter of the Terra Kind loading screen from FFXV.png Noctis heals Sarah in Close Encounter witg the Terra Kind in FFXV.png Magic barrier in Close Encounter of the Terra Kind in FFXV.png Warp pad in Close Encounter of the Terra Kind from FFXV.png Hiso Alien dispels a magic wall in FFXV x Terra Wars collab.png Magic Wall in Close Encounter of a Terra Kind in FFXV.png Hiso Elder in Close Encounter of a Terra Kind FFXV.png Leukorn in Close Encounter of a Terra Kind in FFXV.png Hiso Alien village under threat in FFXV x Terra Wars collab.png Coliseum steps in Close Encounter of the Terra Kind in FFXV.png The Eroder as a Hiso Alien in FFXV x Terra Wars collab.png The Eroder from Close Encounter of the Terra Kind in FFXV.png Etymology Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film by Steven Spielberg that tells the story a man whose life changes after an encounter with an unidentified flying object (UFO). "Close Encounter of the Terra Kind" refers to Terra Wars, the game the event is a collaboration with, but the word "Terra" also means Earth. Category:Quests in Final Fantasy XV Category:Sidequests in Final Fantasy XV